Reading material

Rich, you've mentioned that Blake has been named capitan of the team, any idea who the alternates will be? Thanks again, great work.

Good coverage, except the British paper equivocates "the English hockey fan" with the "Los Angeles hockey fan", which is far from fair. We're not a huge community here, but there's well enough to sell out Staples, support the team, and keep the [too few] local rinks packed with recreational players.

Also, I'll never stop getting a retch reflex any time I see Corey Perry holding the Cup...

In the thin ice article:

"One analogy compares the hockey fan in London to the hockey fan in Los Angeles. They are both members of a small but voracious lot, forming a cult that provides a nice start to a season-ticket base, but never grows large enough to really do much with."

Rings true a bit about us Kings fans.

Yeah, I don't want to get picky, but I also don't agree with the Post's take on London/LA fans. The real issue isn't the size of the fan base in LA being small so much as the game and the fan base are small relative to the enormity of the entertainment industry in LA.

When your choice is between being a hockey fan and just getting frostbite without any entertainment, well no wonder the per cappa rate of hockey fans is high in parts of the Great White.

In LA, you have multiple baseball, basketball and hockey pro teams, the snow, the surf, and the desert for recreation activities, and the larger entertainment industry right here in our backyard.

When a band tours, in LA you can get three or more chances to see then at different venues. How many acts make Moose Jaw or even Winnepeg a single night stop on their tour?

Comparing relative fan bases in places where trees are more abundant than people to LA is a bit ridiculous.

The National Post is a Canadian paper, not British. Let's wake up guys.

Brian said - "Rings true a bit about us Kings fans."

I don't think it does. On the most surface level, maybe if you squint just right, but look at the fan base in LA. It's been good enough for the ownership to completely take for granted over a number of years in a brand new building.

That isn't too small "to really do much with."

The fan base was large enough and strong enough for the team to go years on end barely even pretending they cared about winning without the fans walking out and the building being left empty.

They've raised ticket prices without raising the bar on their on-ice performance, and I don't see the organization struggling to get butts in the seats.

The situation in LA is odd, but characterizing the fan base like that is like saying a 6' tall guy is short because you're comparing him to basketplayers, while a 5' tall guys is towering when compared to a class of second graders.

What a shock! AEG is thrilled to throw the Kings under the (London doubledecker) bus so that they can promote their new venue in London - even if it hurts their season in the long run.

...and they are going to do it again next season in Germany?

The National Post article states this will be the first regular season games played outside of North America. Actually I believe there were a couple of regular season games played in Japan several years ago between the Sharks and Flames.

Sorry Rich. I see that you've pointed out those other overseas games in your article. Should have read that first!

Rich, very good article. Unfortunately, I think your predictions may very well turn out to be true. Traveling halfway around the world to kick off the new season, when the Kings already log more miles than just about every other team, cannot be the most ideal way to launch what will inevitably be a long and grueling season. Let's hope they get out of London with a respectable showing (splitting the series with Anaheim would be good, sweeping would be incredible but is that asking too much?), then come back home, recover quickly from all that travel, and get things going. Thanks again.

dogking...Not certain about the ``A'' just yet. I would bet on Armstrong and Cammalleri. The third? Could be just about anyone.

Rich, I think that's about right, although I wonder if Kopitar might be right for the "A". He'll most likely have the most points for the club this season.

I guess I must think like Barry Melrose when I believe that point producers should lead a team. Gretzky, Messier, Iginla, Crosby, all examples (of course there are many more) of players that produce for the club. If you look back at when Melrose named Luc capitan of the team the year Gretzky started the season with a back injury, Robitaille carried that team as the season opened and he played the best hockey that I have ever seen him play. He took responsibility for the team's results while Gretz was out. He lead the club. And if memory serves me right, they challenged for the Cup that year.

I'd give Kopitar the "A" and the responsibility that comes with it. I think we'll all be very happy to see the results of how he handles it. He's got the stuff to carry this team a long way.